A 10 Year-Old Almost Won the ESPN Bracket Challenge

Remember all the time you took researching your NCAA tournament bracket selections last month? Next time, just give your bracket to a 10-year-old kid — as long as the kid is as savvy as Brayden Schager. The 10-year-old resident of Dallas, Tex. was a Michigan victory in last Monday's NCAA title game away from having the top-ranked bracket out of 8.15 million forms completed in ESPN’s Tournament Challenge. Even though the Wolverines' loss to Louisville kept Schager from being the champ, it's hard not to marvel at his picks.

Schager nailed 12 of the Sweet Sixteen teams, seven of the Elite Eight and all of the Final Four: Wichita State, Syracuse, Michigan and Louisville. He also correctly picked the national title game participants — Michigan and Louisville. The Cardinals derailed Schager's title hopes with their comeback win.

Schager didn't miss out on any money as a result of the Michigan loss. ESPN will reward a random participant with a $10,000 Best Buy gift card. Schager's bracket, however, fell from No. 1 to No. 38,292, which is still probably better than yours. If ESPN wanted to show some moxie, it could have had Brayden Schager replace Skip Bayless on "First Take" as his prize. Schager already clearly knows more about sports than Bayless.